I want to know how to set up my grading to take the best 2 out of 4 assignments. How would I set this up?

Hello, I am a new instructor and I want to have my grading scheme set up so that only the best 2 out of 4 grades are calculated. Does anybody know if this is possible through the blackboard grade center?

This is very possible. As you will learn, nothing is quick when you are setting it up but you save the time later.

1. Click on the Grade Center link in the Assessment section.

2. Roll the cursor over the Manage button in the Action Bar to open the contextual menu.

3. Select Categories.

4. Click on Add Category in the Action Bar.

5. Type a Name for the category (ex: Weekly Quizzes).

6. Click on Submit.

7. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click OK.

8. Assign the New Category to a Series of Grade Columns:

From the Grade Center:

1. To assign the new Category (ex: Weekly Quizzes) to a New Grade Column choose it from the Category drop-down menu on the Add Grade Column page.

2. To assign the new Category (ex: Weekly Quizzes) to a Preexisting Grade Column click on the Action Link next to the column name.

3. Click on the Modify Column link.

4. Choose the Category from the Category drop-down menu on the Modify Grade Column page.

5. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 for each Grade Column to be inlcuded in the Series of Grade Columns from which the lowest score will be dropped. In this example, 10 quiz Grade Columns must be modified to be assigned to the "Weekly Quizzes" category. The image below shows the last column of 10 quizzes being modified.

1. Roll the cursor over the Add Calculated Column button in the Action Bar to open the contextual menu.

2. Click on the Weighted link.

3. Enter a Column Name and other information into the appropriate fields.

4. In the Select Columns pane, select the category you created under the Categories to Select box (ex: Weekly Quizzes).

5. After selecting and highlighting a category, click on the arrow to include it in the weighted grade. The category now moves into the Selcted Columns window and displays further options.

6. Set the Percentage of the total for each column or category. Since we only want these 10 quizzes included in the calulation of the score for this column, we will make the percentage of the "Weekly Quizzes" category 100%.

7. Select how to weigh columns within the Category, Equally or Proportionally. Choosing Equally applies equal value to all Columns within a Category. Choosing Proportionally applies the appropriate value to a Grade Item based on its points compared to other columns in the Category. For most purposes and this exmaple, you'll want to use Equally.

8. Enter a 2 or however many you wish to drop in the Drop Lowest Grades text field to drop the lowest grade in the category.

9. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

10. You are returned to the Grade Center, where you can view the adjusted quiz score in the newly created weighted column, which in this example is named "Quizzes 1-10." We've included a seperate column next to it named "Quizzes 1-10 Raw" to demonstrate the quiz score when the lowest quiz grade is not dropped.

This is very possible. As you will learn, nothing is quick when you are setting it up but you save the time later.

1. Click on the Grade Center link in the Assessment section.

2. Roll the cursor over the Manage button in the Action Bar to open the contextual menu.

3. Select Categories.

4. Click on Add Category in the Action Bar.

5. Type a Name for the category (ex: Weekly Quizzes).

6. Click on Submit.

7. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click OK.

8. Assign the New Category to a Series of Grade Columns:

From the Grade Center:

1. To assign the new Category (ex: Weekly Quizzes) to a New Grade Column choose it from the Category drop-down menu on the Add Grade Column page.

2. To assign the new Category (ex: Weekly Quizzes) to a Preexisting Grade Column click on the Action Link next to the column name.

3. Click on the Modify Column link.

4. Choose the Category from the Category drop-down menu on the Modify Grade Column page.

5. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 for each Grade Column to be inlcuded in the Series of Grade Columns from which the lowest score will be dropped. In this example, 10 quiz Grade Columns must be modified to be assigned to the "Weekly Quizzes" category. The image below shows the last column of 10 quizzes being modified.

1. Roll the cursor over the Add Calculated Column button in the Action Bar to open the contextual menu.

2. Click on the Weighted link.

3. Enter a Column Name and other information into the appropriate fields.

4. In the Select Columns pane, select the category you created under the Categories to Select box (ex: Weekly Quizzes).

5. After selecting and highlighting a category, click on the arrow to include it in the weighted grade. The category now moves into the Selcted Columns window and displays further options.

6. Set the Percentage of the total for each column or category. Since we only want these 10 quizzes included in the calulation of the score for this column, we will make the percentage of the "Weekly Quizzes" category 100%.

7. Select how to weigh columns within the Category, Equally or Proportionally. Choosing Equally applies equal value to all Columns within a Category. Choosing Proportionally applies the appropriate value to a Grade Item based on its points compared to other columns in the Category. For most purposes and this exmaple, you'll want to use Equally.

8. Enter a 2 or however many you wish to drop in the Drop Lowest Grades text field to drop the lowest grade in the category.

9. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

10. You are returned to the Grade Center, where you can view the adjusted quiz score in the newly created weighted column, which in this example is named "Quizzes 1-10." We've included a seperate column next to it named "Quizzes 1-10 Raw" to demonstrate the quiz score when the lowest quiz grade is not dropped.

This doesn't work if you have more than one score with the same value in a category.

In my case, I want to pull the two highest scores on a set of 18 Discussion Boards forums. Each forum is worth 5 points. The category includes forum columns for which no grade is recorded, as students were not required to post to all forums. When I try to set up the weighted total column to drop the 16 lowest scores, it will only show a single "5" score in the Weighted Total column for a student who has two "5" grades, no matter what the scores are in any other column.